


What the Future Holds

by scatteredlogic



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-05
Updated: 2007-04-05
Packaged: 2017-10-12 12:45:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/124974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scatteredlogic/pseuds/scatteredlogic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucius Malfoy is concerned about his future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What the Future Holds

Lucius rapped his cane sharply against the age-darkened wooden door and waited. After a long moment, the door was cracked open a sliver to reveal a pair of suspicious black eyes.

"Open the door, Severus," Lucius said, impatient. "I want to talk to you."

Severus hesitated, then opened the door.

Lucius stepped inside, glancing around Severus' quarters. They looked unchanged. Two worn leather chairs were arranged in front of the hearth where a fire blazed against the chill of the dungeons. Papers were stacked neatly on the writing desk standing near the closed bedroom door, but books overflowed the shelves lining the stone walls and rested on various surfaces around the room.

"What do you want, Lucius?" Severus folded his arms over his chest.

Lucius frowned. "I had a terrible time finding you. Why are you here? Doesn't Slughorn object to you lurking about?"

"Not within my hearing, no." Severus smirked, then his mouth twisted into a stubborn scowl. "Hogwarts has been my home since the beginning, and I refuse to be driven out simply because she's added some squalid hovel at Spinner's End. I intend to spend what could very well be my last days in my _home_."

"That's actually why I'm here to see you." Lucius sat in one of the chairs, carefully arranging his robes so that the folds fell just so, and smiled smugly. "I've brokered a rather good deal for us."

"A deal?" Severus echoed. He sat in the other chair, incredulous. "You mean you've spoken with her?"

Lucius' smile turned chagrined for an instant. "Rowling? No, actually. I couldn't get in to see her." He smoothed a wrinkle out of his robes. "So I visited another author."

"Another author? There is no other author." At a sudden thought, Severus narrowed his eyes. "You've been to one of those fan fiction writers, haven't you?"

Lucius sighed. "What other choice do we have? You have to admit they've been very generous to us. Most of them have no interest in seeing us permanently imprisoned or, worse, dead. We can't get that same reassurance from Rowling. She refuses to speak with any of us. I have it on good authority that she won't even talk to the Potter brat, and he's always been her pet. It's time that we faced the facts; we're on our own."

For several long moments, the only sounds were the crackle of the fire and of Severus grinding his teeth. Finally, he spoke. "Which one?"

"What?" Lucius concentrated on smoothing a wrinkle from his robes.

"Which fan fiction writer?" Severus spat out.

"Ah. A lovely woman in London. Dagger, I think, or Stiletto, perhaps?" Lucius waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Something like that."

Severus went absolutely still. "Shiv?" he finally hissed.

"Shiv... Why yes, I believe that's her name."

"You _believe_." Severus snorted. "You know very well who she is. You're her new favourite, after all."

"Oh, are you still sulking about that?" Lucius rolled his eyes. "Surely you don't begrudge me a moment in the sun?"

"A moment?" Severus snarled. "You forget that I know you, Lucius. You'll have your moment and mine and everyone else's before you're through."

Lucius smirked. "It's only fair, Severus. How many stories are there in which you're the lead? Contrast that sum with the paltry number in which _I_ am the lead. Parity was due. There are others who'll take proper care of you."

"Proper care isn't the phrase I would use." Severus sat back in his chair and glowered. "Some of them dispense the Cruciatus far more freely than the Dark Lord."

"It's for the dramatic tension," Lucius pointed out.

"Dramatic tension, my arse," Severus snapped back.

"No, that would be the _slash_ ," Lucius said dryly.

Severus shuddered.

"Oh, don't worry, old man, Shiv gave me a list of the writers who are still completely enthralled by you. Most of them treat you very well."

"Let me see this list," Severus demanded.

Lucius took a piece of parchment from his pocket and handed it over.

As Severus read, he relaxed a bit.

"Most of them do a decent job, I suppose," he conceded grudgingly. "Although, a few of them write too slowly."

Lucius grinned. "Are you feeling better now that your prospects are a bit brighter?"

"I suppose so," Severus answered. "How is Draco bearing up?"

"He's rather depressed. He's worried that Rowling is going to turn him into a pseudo-Gryffindor before the end of the series."

Severus winced. "Death would be preferable in that case. At least the torment would be over."

Lucius nodded. "I saw Wormtail and the Dark Lord yesterday. Pettigrew's been drunk since Rowling announced the publication date. He knows his days are numbered. Oddly enough, since that last book, the Dark Lord has been indifferent to the entire matter. Apparently, being written as a sociopath has drained him of most emotion. They invited me to dinner, but I begged off. I didn't think I was up to another of round of Pettigrew's whinging about having no decent backstory."

"He does tend to go on about that," Severus agreed. "I'd rather talk to Bellatrix, and she's a complete nutter."

Lucius hesitated for a moment. "I went to Hermione's home. As she'll be my co-star in several of Shiv's stories, I wanted to speak with her. She wasn't there, though."

Severus leaned forward with an interested expression, and his voice lowered to a whisper. "Did you meet her parents?"

"Yes." Lucius grimaced at the memory and instinctively whispered back. "They were little more than human shaped blobs."

Severus nodded. "The Weasleys said the same thing about them. It's no wonder, I suppose. Rowling's written no detail for them. They don't even have given names."

"They invited me in for tea, but..." Lucius' voice trailed away and he shuddered. "I just couldn't. There's nothing there to look at."

"Speaking of tea, I could call one of the house elves—" Severus began.

"No, thank you." Lucius rose. "I really must be going. I want to pass on my good news to a few of the others. Blaise Zabini is next on my list."

Severus stood and walked with him to the door. "Thank you for coming, Lucius. Perhaps we do stand a chance, after all."

Lucius nodded and then was gone.

Severus closed the door and smiled as he heard the bedroom door open.

"I take it that you didn't tell him that you'd already been to visit some of those fan fiction writers?"

Severus turned to face Hermione. Her hair was tousled, and she wore only his dark green dressing gown. As he watched, it slipped off one bare shoulder, and she pushed it up with a languid gesture.

"After he interrupted us?" Severus smirked. "I don't think so."

"Why didn't you go to Shiv first?" Hermione asked, curious.

Severus walked to a small table and poured two glasses of wine. "She's already stated that she prefers to write for Lucius now. She's a determined woman, and it would have been pointless. The others, however, are still interested in writing us."

Hermione smiled as Severus handed her a glass of wine. "What shall we drink to?"

Severus raised his glass. "What else? To the future."

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Shiv5468's birthday and a few months prior to the release of Deathly Hallows.


End file.
